Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Graphic
- surreal
- ritualistic
- grotesque
- challenging art house viewing
- religious cinema programming
What critics said
Critics broadly recognize the film's ravishing cinematography and elaborate production design while finding its theatrical provocation alienating and difficult to endure.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film presents a 1659 performance of a morality play while repeatedly exposing and disrupting the relationship between actors, spectators, and staged events.
The virgin birth, miracle child, bishop, priests, and church rituals are rendered as instruments of spectacle and social control rather than devotional affirmation.
Sacha Vierny's cinematography and the deluxe production design emphasize saturated color, elaborate pageantry, and composed stage-like images.
Mâcon's infertile inhabitants and the court treat the miracle child as a public spectacle whose meaning is repeatedly claimed by religious and social authorities.
Films like The Baby of Mâcon, and why
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
elaborate theatrical staging, religious iconoclasm, and provocative manipulation of spectatorship
Prospero's Books
baroque production design, formal theatricality, and dense critique of power and institutions
The Devils
surreal historical pageantry, stylized violence, and aggressively artificial visual composition
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
ritualized religious imagery, transgressive sexuality, and challenging avant-garde spectacle
Movie Details
- Director
- Peter Greenaway
- Release Date
- 1993-09-17
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (117)
Cast
- Julia Ormond
- Ralph Fiennes
- Philip Stone
- Jonathan Lacey
- Don Henderson
- Celia Gregory
- Jeff Nuttall
- Jessica Hynes
- Kathryn Hunter
- Gabrielle Reidy
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel, Cineverse Amazon Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Baby of Mâcon about?
- A lavishly staged morality play about a miracle child turns religious belief, institutional power, and the audience’s appetite for spectacle into a grotesque theatrical assault.
- What is The Baby of Mâcon like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Baby of Mâcon as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as dense.
- Is The Baby of Mâcon violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Baby of Mâcon as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Baby of Mâcon?
- Critics broadly recognize the film's ravishing cinematography and elaborate production design while finding its theatrical provocation alienating and difficult to endure.
- Which films are like The Baby of Mâcon?
- Films with a similar feel include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Prospero's Books, The Devils, and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.
- How long is The Baby of Mâcon?
- The Baby of Mâcon runs 122 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Baby of Mâcon?
- In United States, The Baby of Mâcon streams on Philo, Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Shout! Factory Amazon Channel, Cineverse Amazon Channel.
